Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The full funding that the Member is referring to is, I believe, on page 44. Under the expenditure, we have some contract services. When you add those contract services to the amount that we put into the small community employment support program, those two together were about $1.2 million. Then, on top of that, we were able to add that extra $3 million this year. Yes, I believe on page 44, under the expenditure category, there is a line item that says contract services for $2.4 million, and some of that money came from there.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So approximately $1 million out of contract services is targeted for small community employment? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, it is $928,000 that is targeted for wage subsidies. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, so that is a wage subsidy. Does that mean that the small community employment would be job creation? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister Moses.
Yes, Mr. Chair. As I mentioned, we do a wage subsidy that provides onthejob training, working with our partners. Plus, we also have some community initiative projects that focus on the development of skills, working with employers to put our residents to work, and with a focus, of course, on youth. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Beaulieu, your time has expired. Next, we have Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If I could maybe go over to a couple of pots that I need some clarification on: the labour market agreement for persons with disabilities grants and the labour market agreement for persons with disabilities contributions. I apologize if this has been asked before. I appreciate that the contributions have gone up since 2015 a little bit, and I also appreciate that the grants seem to be something new that started last year. I am wondering if the Minister or the department can explain the difference between those two pots, because the descriptions in here seem to me very similar. Who accesses these pots? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. With the grants, those are more dollars for the individual, where, under contributions, we try to work with community organizations that will help employ people with disabilities, so the dollars there are a little bit higher. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the pot that is eligible to individuals in the form of grants, that was not something that we did prior to 201617? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister Moses.
There could be a few different reasons for that. It could be that we just didn't spend any money that year or that there was no uptake on the program itself.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The only reason why I am going down this line of questioning is because we clearly have it stated within our mandate that we want to focus on the demographic of the 18- to 24-year-olds and finding ways in which to get them into the workforce. We are aware that a number of folks in that age group are people with varying degrees of disabilities. I want to make sure that we are making the proper investments to achieve that goal of having this particular demographic move successfully into the working environment and helping us on so many levels. I may have questions along those lines a little bit later. For now, that is fine. My next questions aren't until another activity, Mr. Chair. That is all I have for now.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Any response? Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. At the FTP level, labour market agreement for persons with disabilities is, I want to say, a hot-ticket item. We all know, as the Member has stated, that people do have disabilities in that age range. It has been discussed at the FTP level, so hopefully we will start to see more supports from the federal government on that side of things moving forward.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Next we have Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am going to build up on my college question about contract services: the $928,000 for small community employment, was that program utilized completely? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the Small Community Employment Support Program as well as the contract services, the question asked earlier, was that money fully utilized, we said it wasn't. We have to get the details on where those pots of money didn't get fully utilized. I will get back to the Member on that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank the Minister for his answer. You almost confused me there. I lost my thought. That is easy today.
With this split in the two areas, small community employment and community service contracts of $920,000, can it be simplified and put into small communities so we would know exactly what the fund is instead of looking from one area to another area? I think it might be another question you might have to talk to the Finance Minister about moving it over. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is the format of the main estimates. I am sure it has something to do with the accountability in the reporting and how the dollars are flowed through the system. That is something we can also look at as we have this new investment of $3 million moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am assuming that was a commitment to work with the Finance Minister and try to line it up to where it is. I appreciate the answer. I guess going back to small community employment, when you talked about there were 200 jobs which are salary subsidy, 69 formal training, but again it comes back to my question previously: we have 3,900 people who are on income support and we only see a small increase. Will the Minister look at these facts and information and see that we have a glowing arrow -- not an arrow, but people are stuck having to go to income support to survive in this territory. Will you look at these numbers and try to make them a little bit more balanced? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is a goal of the department, that we want our residents to be working and getting the skills and the training that they need to be employable. Definitely a goal. We do see the startling numbers on income assistance and making sure that we try to provide every opportunity for our residents to get into the workforce. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank the Minister for his answer. Again I appreciate the comments. Can we get a number, a goal, a number that we can look at? Because you are only giving us six months. How many people will we hopefully be able to give employment after these six months so that we can reduce that income support number? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We can't give a targeted number. It is based on a lot of things; how many employers do we have in the Northwest Territories, how many bands would like to partnership on either small community projects and how many would be willing to take on that wage subsidy, making sure that we have residents out there who are capable, ready, and willing to work as well. We can't really throw out a number. If anything, it would be nice to match the numbers that we had last time. With the new investment, hopefully we will have more communities that want to uptake this project and this program moving forward so that we can get the residents working. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank the Minister again for his response. I am a little disappointed that we are not getting a number. Again, I don't want this to be a salary subsidy program. I want a partnership. I want to be able to give the communities the money so that they can actually employ people and get them to work and provide training so they become a better, skilled workforce. Is the department really looking at this to become a job creation or just a subsidy program? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Currently, we are going to move ahead the way we have always rolled out this program. I appreciate the feedback from Members, actually. I know that a lot of Members were asking to not have a wage subsidy. We will take that feedback. As we come up with the strategy, we will take that into consideration. Right now, as of today, we are still going to be moving forward with the wage subsidy the way it is. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I understand what the Minister is trying to say. I understand we are trying to move forward. However, if we just match these numbers that we have now and we don't utilize all that money, that is $3 million just sitting there. To me, it is about small communities getting people to work. Will the Minister make a commitment once they have come up with a strategy within the next six months that they will bring it back to committee so that we can look at this information? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we will bring that information to committee once it is put together. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the Minister's commitment. I am hoping it is within the six months that we have heard from himself and his staff. I am going to turn to another set of questioning here. It is regarding the increase in funding for the TEP and social work program. This money is coming from SFA; correct? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I really don't understand the form of question the Member is trying to ask. We currently fund for college and TEP through our contribution agreements, not through the Student Financial Assistance pot of funding. Maybe the Member can just clarify his question. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
